Ch.7: A matter of perspective(AKA: Fair point)
For the main article of the fanfic, click Here. Chapter 7: A matter of perspective(AKA: fair point) And after we reached the Amano household and have our little dinner, Ryuusei-kun ordered me to keep my homework updated. It reminded me how many classes I've lost while reading the collection of my series, and how the consequence for that was the pile of books and notes in front of me. It's not like I dislike school, but I rather read my books at home and in peace instead of hearing sensei's infinite loops of information we won't need for a lifetime. But I think he's right about being worried about my education and grades, after all, even Hanekawa-sensei congratulated him for bringing me back to class, which made me a little envious because I also wanted to be celebrated since I pulled all of my strengths to even get to class... I digress. Here I am now, reading an English book and trying to translated it back to English. Cursed be my Multilingual ability, I wish I could also read as easy as I talk and hear. In front of me, there was my slave-driving boyfriend Ryuusei-kun, reading his weekly Shounen Jump and drinking on his soda we bought back on the Convenience Store, with also my Champion RED and Square Jump. He already finished his own homework, and while reading the new chapter of Shokugeki No Souma, he would point either some error of mine or give me a hint whenever I stuck on some random question... "Tsukihi-san, don't you forget that you also need to finish that Biology diary and Japanese language work. I can help you with the difficult kanji, but that's that." He said, flipping another page of recycled paper and sipping on his drink, without even batting an eye on me. I grunted, finishing another English sentence and sighing, and only then he decided to give me some attention, taking a look at my writing and smiling soon after, picking now my Square Jump. "Also, if you want to improve your English, I suggest that you pick one of my games and use the option mode to change it to English. It's a way better and easier way to learn that. I also have a dictionary and some comics and books in case you need them." "What are you, my father?" I asked, now done with the English part of my homework. He stopped his reading to give me a glance above the pages, blinking a few times in bored expresssion. No, he can't be my father, he's way more invested in me. Not that my father doesn't love me, but he's more concerned about his job and position than me. Why do you think he didn't mind a boy in my room and at our house? "Your father? Don't be ridiculous..." He said, returning to his read on my Square Jump. I wonder if he's reading To Love-Ru darkness, I wouldn't be surprised, since myself enjoy that. Enough thinking about pink-haired aliens, time to go back on my biology Diary, as much I dislike that. I wonder if he can help me in that too. "... I am your Boyfriend, Tsukihi-san." *BAM!* "Tsukihi-san...?" And that was unexpected even for me. Did he just declare me as his girlfriend? Shit, he's getting the advantage over me again, that silver tongue and quick thinking of his. I just bumped my forehead on the table in order to regain some of my remaining sanity, and now I have a burn mark on my forehead, oozing some steam from the previous attack. He keeps saying things like 'boyfriend', 'girlfriend', 'lovers', 'couple' and stuff, yet I was just joking about this whole 'fake relationship' ordeal. Not that I dislike that, but he's taking it way to seriously. Still, he buy me stuff and share his lunchbox with me, so for now, I think I'm okay with it. But maybe some explanation and talk is needed. "'Boyfriend', eh? You do realize that we met roughly three days ago, and this relationship is fake, right?" I said toying with my pencil, letting it slide down the table until it hit the ground. Without even taking the eyes off his read, Ryuusei-kun said: "So? Fake or not; it's only a given for a boyfriend to be concerned about the education of his girl." That sentence made me blush a little, as I resumed my little display of misery. I'm his girl, and that's doesn't sound so bad at all. And he cares about me, which is always a plus. It's not like those other guys who has girls only for sex and a good time around, he's trying to make me a better person. Eh, but being a good person is way too tiring, so I'll still in being a bitch for now. "Besides, it's not like I'm the only one who has a fake and shallow relationship around here." "You're... Kinda right." I said finishing now talking about chlorpromazine and photosynthesis. Fake relationships are a given here, and to be fair, we're off better in a fake one than the old 'love at first sight' bullshit. 'Unknown childhood friend' and 'pre-stablished lovers' are also a thing here. Whatever, I'm already finishing my report and diary, so I think I can have a break from all of this. "It'll be kinda weak, story-wise, to simply say that I'm your childhood friend with a promise of an arranged marriage, or that we've been lovers since the first day of school before the proper story start. Still, developing a relationship is either tiring and slow, and sometimes that might turn readers off." "We can always go for the R&J approach. How ironic it is for the most famous love story of all time was as shallow as a lake in the middle of the desert. It lasted three days and six people died, canon wise." "I don't want that. Lightning relations are really not my thing. Besides, it's not like our fake relationship isn't working, right?" I finished, blushing a little and tapping my finger on the table. I accidentally ended up forming a heart-shaped soap-bubble from the tip of my thumb, but fortunately it popped before he could witness that. That's another power I have, coming from mom of the extinct Marbas clan: the ability to produce soap bubbles from my body. It's kinda cute. It means I'm a walking soap. Back to my studies. "Let's see, now I'll have to work on my kanji reading. Some radicals, tree goes there, remember that three women stands for..." "I don't think you'll need that, Tsukihi-san." And so I resumed my studies on his room, having now a break or two in order to refresh the brain and circuits. At least he helped me a lot this time, it has probably something to do with the fact that I completely suck in writing some ideograms. I chose my alias because it was possibly one of the easiest name to write anyway. His name, on the other hand, is pretty hard to write. 'Heaven', 'field', 'shooting star', it comes to no surprise that he is that good in calligraphy. The special names for his attacks probably has something to do with it as well. It took me at least an hour to finish it, and it was a good hour, despite everything... "Shall we take another break?" He took the words out of my mouth, and I responded him with a grunt and a sigh, tossing my pencil to a random direction and putting myself laid on the floor. He passed me my Champion RED and resumed his read on his ULTRA Jump. After that, I'll also need to write the rest of my history essay, so I'll savor this little zen moment the best I can. But while I was twilling around those adult and mature stories that were strangely labelled as Shounen, my mind went stray a little, and I landed my eyes on my said boyfriend. That got me thinking... Maybe he really wants a relationship with me because I'm practically the only person he can open about himself. I'm a devil rejected by the current society of the underworld who doesn't like anyone, and he's a dragon-hybrid-something who is at the same time trying to live a normal life and find his captured sister. Everyone else, however, see us as simple high-schoolers, and so we aren't important in the slightest for a bystander. That feeling of both rejection and general ignorance is what we have in common, and maybe that's why he's so obsessed with this. Maybe he doesn't want to admit, but he's quite lonely... Sure, he met that Ghoul girl and the nekomata, doesn't change the fact I'm his main girl, despite our relationship being fake. I don't have friends, and I don't need the Pity of neither Gremory, Sitri or Sairaorg; but this feeling of meeting someone that shares some of your problems is relaxing and calming. I don't dislike it. Maybe he's right, we're not magnets. He had a fair point since the start... But... Can our differences torn us apart, overcoming our similarities? "Hey Tsukihi-san, did you read it? They're gonna make an anime adaptation of that Light novel that has being published on Ace. Isn't that cool?" My said fake boyfriend said with a grin, pointing at a random picture of that said series. I made a 'meh' face with that news, which didn't escape his said dragon eyes, that again, were of a strangely slitted purple. "Really? I don't care much, to be honest." I said matter-of-factly, flipping another page of my manga as he hummed in curiosity. I personally don't like anime. "Aren't you excited? I mean, yeah, some anime adaptations might not work sometimes, but this one..." "It's not like that, Ryuusei-kun, it's that I don't like anime..." I said again, lowering my manga to look at him straight in the eyes. We stared at each other for a while, and I blinked, announced my defeat. "It's just... I think anime is cheap, okay? I don't watch any, as you might've guess. Anime is a cheap way to acquire more money by milking the original idea and simply animating it to television, only to sell it later on DVDs or BDs. I already like the manga, why bother a cheaply animated, poorly voiced animation, anyway, that sometimes don't even follows the source material? Besides, one way of media should stay one way of media. Manga should stay manga, anime should stay anime, light novels should stay light novels and dramas should stay dramas... Just my two cents regarding that issue." "Well, you do have some valid points about anime in media, but let's not forget that producing an anime is an Herculean task, and if someone tries to produce an original one and don't sell it well, it'll considered a failure and completely discouraged. Besides..." He gave his own two cents on the subject, putting his manga aside and standing up to reach his bookshelf. I wonder what he's planning now. "Since the said novel is in first person POV from the protagonist, I guess the producers have total liberty to create new designs for the characters and maybe expand the universe even more visual and personally speaking." "Huh...?" I don't get it, really. He says some difficult things sometimes, even harder than some words from my favorite collection of novels. "Ah! There they are!" He said now picking two specific books from the shelf and putting them on the table in front of me. One of them was the short Story 'I have no mouth and I must scream', written by Harlan Ellison; and the other, 'Diary of a wimpy kid', by Jeff Kenney. Two so different books, I wonder he's up to. I have somehow an idea about it. "Now; now, Tsukihi-san, can you tell me what those two books have in common, despite being so different generally speaking?" "Huh... Both have first-person narratives like in the novel...? So what?" I asked back with that vague response, trying my best to try to wrap things up and understand from where he's coming to. He sat back across me on the table, and crossed his arms, pointing now a finger on each book. "Exactly, however, the narrator is more than just a character who's narrating the story in both cases. They have an opinion, an personality, and the ability to cast judgement upon others using their own karmic meter." He continued, flipping over the pages on each book and picking a random one each. "They can commit errors, they can be on the bad side of the balance, they can even be the ones who are wrong, who knows?" "I don't get it." "The thing is, Tsukihi-san, by adapting something into a different form of media, we can see more than the source material lend us. We can see the appearance of characters never illustrated in a light novel(like lord Ajuka), details that shouldn't pass by, and even some fun cameos." He concluded with a sigh and a shrug. Ah, now that I think about it, he has some fair points, but I still don't like anime. "Also, in more ways than others, the narrator may never be too reliable about exposition or worldview. If this was a fanfiction, for example, I can pretty much think 'said Tsukihi-san, the chubby, dark-skinned, rainbow-haired and flat girl' and get away with it, because without any other form, you would be just a bunch of unreliable quotes and unreliable descriptions." "Huh, fair point. However, Hollywood and our own Anime Studios has shown that not always they're faithful to their own adaptations, making them maybe even more misleading than the read itself. Also, that doesn't justify them since we can count the spin-offs." I said also standing up and reaching for his shelf of books. Let me see, maybe he has those, and after a quick scan, he really does. I picked two books from there, and like him, placed them on the table, against his own. "Or something like that." "Kah, Kah? 'The metamorphosis', by Kafka and; 'DIO over Heaven', by NisioisiN and Araki? How come?" He said. "Ryuusei-kun, both stories are from the point of view of the 'villain' of the story." I explained, pointing at both the cockroach and the Vampire and his spiritual protector. "While 'The metamorphosis' is written in a Third-person POV, we mostly see the world and narration through Gregor's eyes. Same goes for DIO before his encounter with the Joestar Team. While other media, even in-universe in Kafka's case, would portray them as monsters without a heart, those books try to either justify or give them more dimension. Like you've said, if this was a First-person POV fanfiction, you can think that I'm physically completely different of how I truly am. However, if by any change the narration shift to me and I see myself in a mirror, I could describe the image of how I truly am, and I can cast my own judgment and description upon you, and since a fanfiction is a reading form of media, none of us could be completely reliable." "Are you saying you don't trust me, Tsuhiki-san? Kah, Kah. I gotta say, I'm kinda hurt." He said with a laugh and a shrug. Wow, going personal now, huh? He really has the blood of a dragon to go so low in this little quarrel of ours. Not that I can say anything myself being a devil, selfish and prepotent by nature. I blushed a little, scratching my cheek in embarrassment. "Not... Not at all, Ryuusei-kun. Because I don't have any reason to lie about you. You're not a girl for me to be jealous about your boobs or hips, so... I don't have any motive to ostracize your from my point of view." I said. I might sound too emotionless and stoic, but I kinda put some thoughts into that sentence. It's true, Ryuusei-kun is a spiky blonde with fair skin and some burn scars around his body, and I can't think other ways to describe him except the fact that he used to have a ponytail before Itoshiki-dono decided to cut it off. "Besides, you're my fake boyfriend. I can't describe you as ugly, anyway." "What a surprise, I can't describe you as ugly either." He said with a confident smile, but also a blush and a scratch on the cheek. He's embarrassed too, that's kinda cute. "For me, you're an charming devil. Kinda dumb and slow, but a good... Fake girlfriend. Can't complain. Nor want to." "..." "..." "Heheh..." "Kah, Kah!" And we shared that little moment of laughs and jokes. So this means that we're coming smoothly regarding our fake relationship, since not even our different tastes and views of the world can torn us apart. On the contrary, this only makes me want to know him even more, either as Sorento Vortigern or Amano Ryuusei, whatever their being fake/imaginary or not, I'm having a pleasant time. That doesn't mean I'm falling for him or anything. I'm just enjoying his company. This isn't a fanfiction, after all. "Sometimes I wonder if you do that on purpose, Tsukihi-san." He said returning to his read after shoving his books away. Does he mean try to mess with him, or the fact that I'm always on the hard side? I need some context in that regard. "What can I say? My voice actress is well-known for voicing tsunderes and sugar-ice girls." "Wait, what?" "Oh, nothing." And that's the final joke, I guess. My break is almost at the end, and soon I shall resume my studies in order to make him proud, whenever I like it or not. I don't actually care, I just want to have a good time with him. I left my champion RED aside and turned my eyes to him. He did the same and then we shared stares for a second. "Hey, Ryuusei-kun..." "Hum~...?" "I..." DISLIKE YOU. "..." He went mute for a second, blinking a few times to possibly digest those words that came out of my mouth, as I mimicked his actions and waited for his response. In the end, he smiled. "Kah, Kah. Tsukihi-san...?" "Yes...?" "I..." DISLIKE YOU, EITHER. "..." "But this won't save you from your homework." "Tch... Worth a shot." "Kah, Kah..." "Heheh..." . CHANGE OF POV; NEXT MORNING. . *YAWN!*, too bad for me. Tsukihi-san didn't stay for the night like last time. We just finished our homework, chat a little more and she used some magical rune to go back home. I just hope she just change her clothes and goes to school as she promised. Hanekawa-sensei seemed too concerned about her absent for the longest time... Which reminds me, she didn't pick her books back at my house, so I need to remember to pick them up for her, although some of them are already on the trashbin. Why do I have this feeling that today might be another bizarre day since I met with Tsukihi-san? Granted, I was expecting some action regarding the supernatural since I heard the name Gremory of the great duke of the underworld, but this kind of development is getting way too weird. Maybe I should also skip school for today, and then the oddities will stop. However, I gotta also stay on my two feet and make mama and papa in heaven proud of me by both avenging them... And being a good student and person in general. Going to the college section of Kuoh, avenging them, get a job, rescue my sister, find a pretty wife, put an end to the Jorge order, have kids, put myself at the top of the food chain, and live a happy life. I guess this is what my parents would want for me... Except some minor details. Kah kah, juxtaposition jokes... However, as always, my normal day was cut short when I saw a certain figure across the road Myself was walking. Big breasts, Kuoh female uniform, milky legs, silver hair... Oh, it's Kotone-san, and she's all alone. No friends, nor family, nor people to help her in case she screams... Yes~! Now, now, I know this is Japan, but I guess something like that in the middle of the day is a bad idea. Also, she's a forked cat, and as such, she has the power to escape my grasp if she desires so. Tsukihi-san will also be kinda sad if she hears that I cheated on her, but we can really say that I cheated on her since our relationship is purely false? I dunno. But, as I promised, I'll make Kotone-san realize I'm unique today... Also, greet her. Like before, I bent myself, crack a few articulations, and put myself in a starting position. I just need to aim at her. Take a deep breath, hear the sound of the wind and... GET SET! READY? GO!* *BANG!* "Now!" *ZOOOOOM!* *STEP STEP STEP STEP STEP!* "Huh...?" *FLIP!* "What the...?!" DIARY: TODAY, THEY ARE LIGHT-BLUE! "Kooootooooneeee-chaaaaaan~...!" And after a quick flip on her skirt to see her light blue panties, I turned around to face her and then proceeded to bury my face into her bosom! Like I was expecting, she screamed in a rather adorable way, so I proceeded to once again lift her from the floor in a way her light body was only supporting itself on my face, with me still into her marshmallow heaven! "It's you! It's really you! I missed your tits so much~! Let me relief my stress on your wonderful, wonderful soft hell!" "Kyaaaaaah~! The individual is molesting me! Please, stop this madness whoever is touching me~!" She screamed, as I circled around to now hug her waist and creep my hands into her skirt! "What are the individual touching me?! Please, stop!" "Kah, Kah! Like I would! It's judgment time again, Kotone-san~!" Maybe I'm going a little too far on this thing, so I lowered her down and only let myself kiss her giant boobs! She continued to scream, though! "Let me touch! Squeeze! Grope! Kiss you~!" "Kyaaaaaah! Don't come near me~! Noooo...!" She continued to struggle even more, hitting her fists cutely against my hair, that of course didn't hurt at all! However, after some time, I heard a dangerous grunt, a loud hiss, and then! "I said...!" *CLUTCH!* *FSSSSSSSST...!* *SCRATCH SCRATCH SCRATCH!* "LET ME GO!" And then she fought back! Using her legs to clutch herself onto, she locked me in between her thighs and once free from my assault, scratched the living hell out of my face! I screamed in pain, and backed a few steps, as she let go of me to escape and escalate a nearby wall! Once on top of it, she shot her bloodshot eyes on me! So silver, so glowy and dangerous! "Hiss! Hiss!" "H-Hey, Kotone-san! It's me, remember? The only one on your eyes?" I said to her in order for her to return to herself! I didn't harass her for nothing, of course! She apparently didn't listen, and hissed again! Suddenly, the climate around here changed: it went from sunny to totally cloudy in a instant, and for some reason, the gravity around me began to rise! Wow, she is powerful! "Now, now, Kotone-san! It's me, remember? The guy from the other day? Amano Ryuusei! Sorento Vortigern!" "Hiss! Hiss! His-... Ah!" And after some more threatening glares and sudden climate changes, Kotone-san blinked once, her eyes returning to the serene and stoic silver ones, and it was all sunny again. She's not only powerful, but she can maintain it under control as well. "Oh, good morning Amano-kun." "Ditto. Good morning, Kotone-san." I said with a light wave, as she jumped from the wall to the floor. As I saw her descend, I noticed two things: 1- I was wrong, her panties are actually purple, and; 2- Even in a simple jump, I can see how light she is by noticing the time it took for her feet to hit the ground. However, while I was feeling her breasts with my hands, I also noticed something: "hey, Kotone-san..." "Speak." "You've... Gained weight." *SLAP!* "As in, you're not as light as you used to be!" I said that after I received a rather burning slap on my face. That pain is beyond a normal one, it really looks like she hit me with a burning hot frying pan or something! Is that the power of senjutsu?! Nah, nothing to worry about it, though. "Oh, that. So I guess I own the boy an apology." She said with a sigh, crossing her arms under her big boobs. Yeah, she's still light as ever, but After I... Greeted her, I came to notice that she's way... Heavier now. I wonder if this has something to do with her now acquired self-awareness. What do you think? "I came to notice that, too. I wonder if this has something to do with me becoming somehow self-aware?" Did she just read my entry? "Who knows, but I'm glad for that, at least. This means we can be friends." I said with a smile. She blinked once to shot an glare at me, and after some time, she sighed, turned her blushing face away and muttered: "Whatever. I don't care." "Yeah, keep telling yourself that." I pat her on the head, and like a good cat, she purred, still with the stoic face. It was cute. After that, I helped her pick her books she dropped when I was greeting her, and my eyes landed on a specific, blank book. Huh, I wonder what kind of book it is. There is no title, so it's not from a series, and it's not labeled, so it's not a note or an agenda either. How odd. "Oh, mind if I read this one? It's so mysterious..." "What a coincidence. I was planning to find this certain young man for us to unravel this quite interesting case. As you might know, after I became self-aware, I decided to put my own reading updated, but when I was about to pick a book..." She continued to talk as I flipped over one page, and then another, and another. After a quick flip-'em-all, I came to this conclusion: it wasn't just the cover of was blank, the rest of the pages were as well. I picked another fallen book, this one with red cover, and like the other, this was also devoid of any sentence. What's going on? "I noticed that all of them were devoid of any sentence. I wonder what's going on with those." Again, again. I guess she can read my entries. "I guess... There's only one explanation." She concluded, as I picked all the books up and gave them all a massive flip, coming to the conclusion that all of them were blank. Yeah, I've also came to a conclusion. "This must be the work of a youkai or a magical artifact!" "No, you fool, this must be the work of a sacred Gea-..." She stopped midsentence after her brain came to the conclusion we thought he same thing. Since we probably synch our ideas, I think she expected me to say something quite simplistic like 'you went to the Blind section' or 'it's a drawing book'. Heh, no, I'm way pass those regular and simplistic views on the world. I'm half-magician, for what is worth, and I know when something like that is up. She sighed, and shined me a little smile. "Huh, impressive. No wonder I can see the boy in front of me like a sore thumb." "Do what?" I shrugged. Picking her books and putting them on her case, we resumed our walk towards Kuoh, side-by-side. "Very well, I'll permit your assistance in this case. Whatever the reason or not, we shall discover the one who messed with my books... And make him or her pay for her sins." "Kah, Kah. Okay, right behind you, Kotone-san." "Much appreciated, Amano-kun." And so, another bizarre day on the life of Sorento Vortigern begins! Subjects spoken * Metalinguistics; * Point of view; * Shounen mangas; * Transmedia; * relationship development.